Net energy metering (NEM) policies have played a crucial role in making residential solar installations a good investment for homeowners in the United States. However, as installed solar capacity has increased, many utility companies have introduced changes to their NEM programs that reduce the value of distributed solar. Aurora usedRead More

The State of New York’s Public Service Commission (PSC) issued its long-awaited order updating the Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) tariff, which compensates distributed energy resources, like solar, for the collective environmental and societal benefits they provide to the state’s electrical grid. “New York has set an ambitious goalRead More

Advocates are raising concerns about a proposal from Idaho Power Company that would increase utility bills and uncertainty for many businesses and farmers that want to use solar energy to meet their own electricity needs. The utility’s application to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, which was filed Friday, seeks toRead More

Maryland and Maine are moving two pieces of legislation through their halls to keep their solar momentum going. Maine kills gross metering You may recall the previous governor of Maine Paul LePage working feverishly to charge solar customers more through a gross metering rate structure. In this setup, the PublicRead More

The National Regulatory Research Institute released a new study of actions by U.S. states to change distributed energy resources rate designs for the customer side of the meter. Review of State Net Energy Metering and Successor Rate Designs is a summary of the activity among state public utility commissions in findingRead More

The Michigan Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club are sounding the alarm on DTE Energy’s Rate Case, claiming it is “unprecedented in dollar amount, scope and spending flexibility.” DTE Energy has requested that the Commission approve a mechanism that would cover $2.8 billion in capital expenditures andRead More

A new SepiSolar white paper reveals the financial benefits of a pending revision to California’s net energy metering (NEM) policy. When finalized, commercial DC-coupled solar-plus-storage installations will not only be able to benefit from NEM, but will also be able to increase solar system size, reduce installation and permitting costs,Read More

Out in Arizona, home of the demand charge, the Arizona Corporation Commission rejected a request by two utilities to subject new solar customers to large monthly fixed charges. As part of their recent rate cases, Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) and UNS Electric sought a monthly Grid Access Charge andRead More

The rooftop solar industry is shining once again in Nevada. NV Energy’s most recent annual plan noted a strong increase in applications for its SolarGenerations rooftop solar program following key state policy changes in 2017 that put the market back on track. SolarGenerations applications went from 287 in 2016 toRead More

South Carolina lawmakers approved a measure that will raise the limit on the number of South Carolinians that can invest in solar and earn credit for their excess power. Amendment 9, which was approved as part of House Bill 4950, will raise the net metering cap from its current 2%Read More